Dept gives Cape farmers a month to install water meters

File: The Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation has recently tightened water restrictions for the agricultural sector in the drought-stricken Western Cape.

TULBAGH, Western Cape - With Day Zero looming in the Western Cape, the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation warned farmers it is their responsibility to install water meters to ensure they accurately track their water usage or face being taken to court.

"The sector is allowed only to use 40 percent of their available allocation... Sometimes, even though someone has a water use licence, you find that there are illegal extractions from the source, including illegal dams which has an implication of how much water is available to users downstream," said spokesperson for Water Affairs, Sputnik Ratau.

Some water-saving measures farmers can implement include irrigating using grey water, metered boreholes and sourcing river water.

The department is also monitoring the upsurge of groundwater extraction closely.